The Gilded Butterfly

When all you see is darkness, turn around. The light is right behind you.

I'm a mariner lost at sea, I'm a butterfly with broken wings I'm a heart without a beat A lifeless land of lonely things

If I were to walk the halls of my own twisted mind On each and every wall at least one picture would reside In every single room would be one reason for my life And the shot above my desk would be one of your smile.

Every day I would wake to see you stare right back at me The love that I resent because it keeps me from being free I'd sketch your eyes to see the light of impossibility I'd watch the pictures of your face, both love and enemy.

I'm a mariner lost at sea, I'm a butterfly with broken wings I'm a heart without a beat A lifeless land of lonely things

Now I can see that however kind, my love is a curse To ignore it I can try but its the reason that it hurts With time i realize that it can only ever get worse So the only way to save my soul is to lose you first.

So in a rage of vengeance and infuriating pain, I gather all your pictures and tear them from their frames I pile them up in rows and stacks behind my old domain Strike a match, throw it down, and watch the growing flames.

I'm a mariner lost at sea, I'm a butterfly with broken wings I'm a heart without a beat A lifeless land of lonely things

I watch the sparks that dance, follow patterns hard to find With every breath I take your name echoes through my mind My soul belongs to you and yet im trying to leave you behind Whatever I am doing I'm scared it's going to leave me blind.

I kill the fire and find a single picture that remains No matter how I want things to end, this is not the way I'm only hurting myself again, this is self inflicted pain The image that I hold is of your lonely crying face.

I now know where to go to keep my heart alive There is nothing else to do but stop trying to hide I can trust myself to feel, and despite the tears I've cried, My emotions will rise from the ashes like gilded butterflies.

I'm a mariner found at sea, I'm a butterfly with gilded wings I'm a heart with a new strong beat A growing land of old fixed things

Subscribe

Get Teen Ink’s 48-page monthly print edition. Written by teens since 1989.